Visa question of the month - need for vaccination in convalescents

Our CEO has to travel to the United States for an important customer meeting. He is COVID-19 recovered (positive PCR test result of 04/14/2021) and was vaccinated once with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at the beginning of October. Thus, he is considered fully vaccinated in Germany.

Now we have heard that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (CDC) requires two vaccinations for vaccines administered with a two-dose vaccine series, but at the same time a certificate of recovery can be presented upon entry.

Can you tell us if our CEO is also recognized as fully vaccinated in the US and allowed to enter or not?

In fact, there is always confusion here.

First, COVID-19 convalescents with only one vaccination of a 2-dose vaccine are considered to be infectious according to the Immunization Regulation (Vaccination Order) by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as not fully vaccinated. This poses a problem for people recovering from Corona in European countries such as Germany: Since in Germany only a single dose of vaccine is administered after an infection and the person is thus considered fully vaccinated, convalescents from Germany, like your CEO, cannot enter the U.S. under the new entry rules unless they qualify for one of the narrowly defined exemptions from the vaccination requirement.

This does not affect the possibility for "recently" recovered individuals worldwide under the amended global testing regulation (Amended Global Testing Order) provide to CDC, in lieu of a negative viral antigen or PCR test, upon entry by air, a digital or paper certification that the person has previously experienced and recovered from a COVID-19 illness. This certification must be in the form of a positive viral test result no older than 90 calendar days prior to departure and, in addition, a letter from a licensed health care provider or public health official certifying that the passenger is fit to travel.